I Didn't Sell Then Either
Though bitcoin only makes up 35% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, it is still the main barometer for the entire cryptocurrency space. Most currency pairs still involve bitcoin, so when it goes down hard, it impacts everything. Let's be clear. This looks bad:
Now close your eyes and think about that chart.
Go ahead.
Keep em closed.
Okay, now open your eyes again.
Now take a look at this:
Does it look familiar?
This is the price of bitcoin up to December 18, 2013.
I didn't sell then either.
Fractals and patterns exist everywhere in nature and we, as part of nature, may also be impacted by them when the neurons fire and our emotions engage and we panic sell or FOMO buy.
If this is your first bitcoin roller coaster ride, make sure you have your seat belt on and strap in.
(Source)
We're just getting started.
For some more perspective, check out this hilarious (obviously ironic) 1 minute video by Alex Millar made back in 2015. It's all the more relevant today in 2018:
So welcome to the party. It's a volatile, speculative market for those who have positioned themselves to enjoy the ride. Don't invest what you're unwilling to lose and be sure to take care of your basic needs long before speculating in this space. Get out of debt first. Get some savings. Learn and grow and participate when you are ready.
I believe the future involves competing money maintained by global, non-violent consensus on an immutable distributed ledger which will change how we think about value itself.
I hope you're joining us in this peaceful revolution. If you're not sure where to start, start here: http://understandingblockchainfreedom.com
We're in different circumstances today. In past bubbles, lowering price and hashpower did not prevent Bitcoin from being useful to those who were using it (primarily Silk Road users).
Today the utility of the network is directly impacted by a declining price and hashpower. It's also in a competitive environment versus other networks, with one almost about to surpass it in market cap. There is also the death spiral scenario, which is only a realistic possibility with full blocks.
It's my view that Bitcoin investors will soon start to realize they backed the MySpace/Netscape of the crypto world, and moving foward cryptos won't always come back from a crash.
I visited a newly opened 'Crypto Café' last Tuesday. They didn't bother to accept Bitcoin, only Litecoin and Ether for payments, because it was totally unusable for basic low value transactions which are described in the Bitcoin whitepaper.
Yep, I completely agree. That's why bitcoin's share went from around ~80% to the 35% it has today. It's also why I'm a big fan of DPOS coins like BitShares, STEEM, and soon EOS. If we have a dot com bubble popping moment coming (I'm not convinced this is it, we still have many trillions of dollars further up to go), then the real companies, projects, and cryptocurrencies will show themselves true, just like before.
Hey Luke, thanks for helping people focus on long-term goals and not letting fear take over. One key point from your post is:
We need to remember "our why." Our why is what directs us to make decisions for today and in the future.
Absolutely correct! So many people have never really done the work to understand why cryptocurrency matters to the world and why so many people will come to value it. With that in place, with rational, first-principle reasons to support our conclusion, we can avoid all this drama as temporary fluctuations on a much larger scale.
Yes indeed . I concur.
Based off of your previous experience @lukestokes it's safe to say beginners out there like myself should not sell. Your previous experiences show that one has not lost any value until they have sold during a dip.
I just bought my first EOS (with euro's). So i'm going to HODL for a while!
Very cool. I have a recurring reminder on my computer that just says, "Buy more EOS." I try to keep that in mind whenever I get interested in some random coins. :)
I should have had that sign months ago. But was waiting for a pullback a long time (and missed massive gains in the mean time :S:S:S)
Yea everyone is losing their mind right now. We are only 9 years into a 131 year project (When the last BTC gets mined).
Now you have to ask yourself what is your endgame.
That's a fantastic way to look at it.
Guys keep calm please please play game rather you sold panic it was only correction 12000 $
Yes i agree with @alao i think people are going into a frenzy over nothing. Tbh i am not sure if or how many people in crypto have had much experience in the institutional markets, but i would suspect the majority have and for those that haven’t. They have not yet developed the mindset that what goes up must come down and back up again.
If you look at the long term bollinger bands we have been happily bobbing up and down in the lower half for a while now. Once this frenzy of selling has slowed down i can see a massive bullish run possibly tipping 20k.
Yeah, when the real money starts moving in freely, things will get really interesting.
I'm hodling strong...
Lots of bitcoin newbies out there. The ones that sold in panic with China might still be holding strong. Interestingly I think the guys that didn’t buy after China are looking to build a position now. I first bought in feb 2014 after waiting for the correction. I bet there are lots of people out there thinking that. Square and robinhood should make it easy for them by summer time.
LMAO hilarious "you know it's gonna' crash." That was too funny. All I could think was "and this one time at band camp............." Thanks brother, I needed that! And yes it's like anything else..... peaks and valleys.
Yeah, it's the same theme and super funny. Such a great video.
I am also hodling and when i am able to i buy. Especially in dips like these. I know on long term this dip is nothing and no reason to panic.
It's so funny to me how small the "crash" of 2013 looks on the 2018 chart. It's, as you said, "nothing."
Exactly..its more a tiny rimple in a straight line up gehe
The market is unregulated and there is a lot of people trying to get rich quick. They will fall victim's of the news FOMOing, leading them to buy the ATH's rather than the dip. Those people most likely won't be able to hold their position after the market goes into a downfall creating the "crash" effect. The same people will never return but they were in to make money, not for the technology itself. The market then resets with the true value of the coin intact. After that state we reach new ATH and the cycle keeps repeating. We are in the downwards trend right now, what do you think will happen next? ;)
My hunch is they will return once cryptocurrency becomes stable money. By then, all the future value will be priced in and fluctuations like this will be much harder due to a larger market cap and more and more people unwilling to sell for fiat.